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Mildred Lyda humbled by Apple Farmer of the Year award

Published: Sunday, September 8, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, September 7, 2013 at 11:38 p.m.

One early spring evening in 1947, Rome Lyda found himself five deep in the back seat of a crowded car on his way to a movie, a western. Crammed next to him was a young girl originally from South Carolina.

They had met briefly, not but a day or two before, and at the end of the night, after the group dropped off the girl, Rome made an announcement. He said, “That's going to be my wife.”

Rome had already made his intentions clear to his sister and even his mother after the earlier encounter, and then on what would be his third time meeting the girl — a solo lunch date — he pulled his truck over on the side of the road. Turning, he said, “I'm in love with you. I want you to marry me.”

Her response was what one would expect from a 19-year-old girl who had just been proposed to by a man she had met only a week before.

“Well, I'm not ready to get married,” she said, though flattered.

But as time passed, the two got to know one another and became a couple, and by the fall of the following year the girl was willing. In October, they were married in a double wedding at Edneyville Methodist Church along with the girl's brother and Rome's niece.

For the next 60 years, until his death in 2008, Rome Lyda and the love of his life, Mildred Lyda, farmed poultry, hogs, vegetables and apples and raised a family. Deeply intertwined in Henderson County agriculture, Lyda Farms has become a popular stop for everything from apples to pumpkins for residents and tourists alike.

The farm was named N.C. State Grange Family Farm of the Year in 2008. And on Aug. 30, the farm celebrated yet another honor — the naming of Mildred Lyda as Apple Farmer of the Year during the N.C. Apple Festival in Hendersonville.

At home in 'God's country'

Perched in the driver's seat of her red EZ-GO golf cart, Mildred Lyda scurries along the green, rolling hills of her family farm to a large field lined with 11 lengthy rows of cabbage.

The rows run straight for a few hundred yards before two more emerge, and then the lot gradually begins to veer left and disappear from view. Bearwallow Mountain — its peak framed by a cloudless blue sky — materializes miles away on the right.

Though Lyda was recently crowned Apple Farmer of the Year, the large, leafy heads of cabbage that she stands among — which from afar almost dwarf the 85-year-old Edneyville woman — could garner their own award if one existed. The cabbage is one of her best-sellers and the first thing her late husband grew before they met.

For a brief spell Lyda stares out beyond the rows of cabbage before fixing an extended gaze toward the mountain. Back in the EZ-GO a few moments later, she remarks, “This is God's country,” then speeds over to one of her orchards to inspect a load of tree-ripened apples picked earlier in the day.

Beginning of a legacy

Lyda Farms came soon after the wedding in 1948, and the couple had three children, Sonna, Jeff and Debbie.

One day the children decided to set up a table under a beach umbrella at the corner of their parents' driveway. They sold corn, tomatoes, grapes and other produce their parents were growing at the time, and business soon took off.

“It got so busy down there,” Lyda said, “we decided to move them up here closer to the house where they would have more room and shade.”

Sheds were eventually built, produce was stocked for the demand, and the entrance to Lyda Farms began to have the feel of an open-air market. As the years passed and the children grew up, the daughters eventually left the farm to start careers in other fields.

Sonna would become superintendent of schools in neighboring Transylvania County, and Debbie found herself working in communications. Jeff stayed behind, though, finding his calling on the farm.

“Rome and my son were very close,” Lyda said. “They worked side by side all these years — we all three did — and it's just a family thing that grew on us.”

Sonna and Debbie eventually found their way back to the farm and began working together with their mother and brother after their father passed in 2008.

“It's everybody's interest, it's everybody's life, and all of us want it to be successful; and we all work together to make it successful,” Lyda said.

'We love what we do'

Lyda was speechless, for — as she described it, “the first time in her life” — after finding out she would be Apple Farmer of the Year. She was a bit in disbelief.

“One of the reasons I was so shocked that they named me Farmer of the Year is that there's so many young farmers out there coming on that I'm so proud of, that I just couldn't believe it,” she said. “I don't quite understand it, but I'm very appreciative and very proud for my family and for our farm here that we are being recognized. I'm very humbled by it. Normally I don't think I'm a very humble person.”

She also was surprised that a woman won, though Lyda happens to be the second woman to receive the award, which United Community Bank has presented annually for the last five years.

“I was overwhelmed,” Lyda said. “You don't expect a woman to be farmer of year, so I couldn't believe it.”

Speaking to Melanie Carleton of United Community Bank, she describes apple farmers in the community as being private people.

Lyda was an exception this year, but she understands why apple farmers, herself included, might choose to shy away from the attention.

“We don't think it's anything outstanding or really needed to be put in the limelight,” she said. “We love what we do and we love growing things for other people.”

All for the customers

In 1986, on the other side of Bearwallow Mountain, Lyda was sitting in a car with a few of her friends. A young Patrick Swayze, in the area filming “Dirty Dancing,” walked by, patted the hood of the car and said, “Hello, ladies.”

“That has always been an unique thing for me that I was there for that to happen,” Lyda said.

Equally unique, though in every respect undesirable, is the amount of rain Lyda, and the rest of her community of farmers, has seen this year.

“Never ever in all the years we have been farming have we had this much rain,” she said.

Western North Carolina has seen record rainfall amounts in 2013, and the effect it has had on farmers like Lyda is severe. She's seen a substantial loss in her vegetable crop — 80 to 90 percent — though her outlook hasn't been soured.

“Somehow — and it's just a miracle — there's always enough,” she said. “There's plenty of good fresh apples, there's plenty of good, fresh, locally grown vegetables. Even though it's been such a disastrous year, somehow it always works out that we have enough.”

Though Western North Carolina has seen manufacturing, and its farming sector, dwindle over the years, along with droughts in years past and record rainfall this year, apples are lucrative, especially for Henderson County. The county, home to 26 farms, accounts for 65 percent percent of all the apples produced in North Carolina, a state that ranks seventh in the country in apple production.

Lyda is reluctant to let success be defined by weather patterns and economic terms, though.

“The most rewarding thing is our customers who come year after year, after year,” she said, “and to see the expression on their faces when they come and see we have vine-ripe tomatoes, and the apples are tree-ripened before we pick them.”

She's also hesitant to take credit for what Lyda Farm has provided the surrounding community for the last 65 years. “She doesn't want to take all the credit,” daughter Debbie said, “and I've told her she's not taking all the credit. She is representing the farm that everybody has worked very hard for and she's the one in place now to do that.

“We really look up to her and admire her for her determination, and her continued support to go through with this farming and 'weather the weather,' if that's the right way to say it.”

<p>One early spring evening in 1947, Rome Lyda found himself five deep in the back seat of a crowded car on his way to a movie, a western. Crammed next to him was a young girl originally from South Carolina.</p><p>They had met briefly, not but a day or two before, and at the end of the night, after the group dropped off the girl, Rome made an announcement. He said, “That's going to be my wife.”</p><p>Rome had already made his intentions clear to his sister and even his mother after the earlier encounter, and then on what would be his third time meeting the girl — a solo lunch date — he pulled his truck over on the side of the road. Turning, he said, “I'm in love with you. I want you to marry me.”</p><p>Her response was what one would expect from a 19-year-old girl who had just been proposed to by a man she had met only a week before.</p><p>“Well, I'm not ready to get married,” she said, though flattered.</p><p>But as time passed, the two got to know one another and became a couple, and by the fall of the following year the girl was willing. In October, they were married in a double wedding at Edneyville Methodist Church along with the girl's brother and Rome's niece.</p><p>For the next 60 years, until his death in 2008, Rome Lyda and the love of his life, Mildred Lyda, farmed poultry, hogs, vegetables and apples and raised a family. Deeply intertwined in Henderson County agriculture, Lyda Farms has become a popular stop for everything from apples to pumpkins for residents and tourists alike.</p><p>The farm was named N.C. State Grange Family Farm of the Year in 2008. And on Aug. 30, the farm celebrated yet another honor — the naming of Mildred Lyda as Apple Farmer of the Year during the N.C. Apple Festival in Hendersonville. </p><p><b>At home in 'God's country' </b></p><p>Perched in the driver's seat of her red EZ-GO golf cart, Mildred Lyda scurries along the green, rolling hills of her family farm to a large field lined with 11 lengthy rows of cabbage.</p><p>The rows run straight for a few hundred yards before two more emerge, and then the lot gradually begins to veer left and disappear from view. Bearwallow Mountain — its peak framed by a cloudless blue sky — materializes miles away on the right.</p><p>Though Lyda was recently crowned Apple Farmer of the Year, the large, leafy heads of cabbage that she stands among — which from afar almost dwarf the 85-year-old Edneyville woman — could garner their own award if one existed. The cabbage is one of her best-sellers and the first thing her late husband grew before they met.</p><p>For a brief spell Lyda stares out beyond the rows of cabbage before fixing an extended gaze toward the mountain. Back in the EZ-GO a few moments later, she remarks, “This is God's country,” then speeds over to one of her orchards to inspect a load of tree-ripened apples picked earlier in the day. </p><p><b>Beginning of a legacy</b></p><p>Lyda Farms came soon after the wedding in 1948, and the couple had three children, Sonna, Jeff and Debbie.</p><p>One day the children decided to set up a table under a beach umbrella at the corner of their parents' driveway. They sold corn, tomatoes, grapes and other produce their parents were growing at the time, and business soon took off.</p><p>“It got so busy down there,” Lyda said, “we decided to move them up here closer to the house where they would have more room and shade.”</p><p>Sheds were eventually built, produce was stocked for the demand, and the entrance to Lyda Farms began to have the feel of an open-air market. As the years passed and the children grew up, the daughters eventually left the farm to start careers in other fields.</p><p>Sonna would become superintendent of schools in neighboring Transylvania County, and Debbie found herself working in communications. Jeff stayed behind, though, finding his calling on the farm.</p><p>“Rome and my son were very close,” Lyda said. “They worked side by side all these years — we all three did — and it's just a family thing that grew on us.”</p><p>Sonna and Debbie eventually found their way back to the farm and began working together with their mother and brother after their father passed in 2008.</p><p>“It's everybody's interest, it's everybody's life, and all of us want it to be successful; and we all work together to make it successful,” Lyda said.</p><p><b>'We love what we do'</b></p><p>Lyda was speechless, for — as she described it, “the first time in her life” — after finding out she would be Apple Farmer of the Year. She was a bit in disbelief.</p><p>“One of the reasons I was so shocked that they named me Farmer of the Year is that there's so many young farmers out there coming on that I'm so proud of, that I just couldn't believe it,” she said. “I don't quite understand it, but I'm very appreciative and very proud for my family and for our farm here that we are being recognized. I'm very humbled by it. Normally I don't think I'm a very humble person.”</p><p>She also was surprised that a woman won, though Lyda happens to be the second woman to receive the award, which United Community Bank has presented annually for the last five years.</p><p>“I was overwhelmed,” Lyda said. “You don't expect a woman to be farmer of year, so I couldn't believe it.”</p><p>Speaking to Melanie Carleton of United Community Bank, she describes apple farmers in the community as being private people.</p><p>Lyda was an exception this year, but she understands why apple farmers, herself included, might choose to shy away from the attention.</p><p>“We don't think it's anything outstanding or really needed to be put in the limelight,” she said. “We love what we do and we love growing things for other people.”</p><p><b>All for the customers</b></p><p>In 1986, on the other side of Bearwallow Mountain, Lyda was sitting in a car with a few of her friends. A young Patrick Swayze, in the area filming “Dirty Dancing,” walked by, patted the hood of the car and said, “Hello, ladies.”</p><p>“That has always been an unique thing for me that I was there for that to happen,” Lyda said. </p><p>Equally unique, though in every respect undesirable, is the amount of rain Lyda, and the rest of her community of farmers, has seen this year.</p><p>“Never ever in all the years we have been farming have we had this much rain,” she said.</p><p>Western North Carolina has seen record rainfall amounts in 2013, and the effect it has had on farmers like Lyda is severe. She's seen a substantial loss in her vegetable crop — 80 to 90 percent — though her outlook hasn't been soured.</p><p>“Somehow — and it's just a miracle — there's always enough,” she said. “There's plenty of good fresh apples, there's plenty of good, fresh, locally grown vegetables. Even though it's been such a disastrous year, somehow it always works out that we have enough.”</p><p>Though Western North Carolina has seen manufacturing, and its farming sector, dwindle over the years, along with droughts in years past and record rainfall this year, apples are lucrative, especially for Henderson County. The county, home to 26 farms, accounts for 65 percent percent of all the apples produced in North Carolina, a state that ranks seventh in the country in apple production.</p><p>Lyda is reluctant to let success be defined by weather patterns and economic terms, though.</p><p>“The most rewarding thing is our customers who come year after year, after year,” she said, “and to see the expression on their faces when they come and see we have vine-ripe tomatoes, and the apples are tree-ripened before we pick them.”</p><p>She's also hesitant to take credit for what Lyda Farm has provided the surrounding community for the last 65 years. “She doesn't want to take all the credit,” daughter Debbie said, “and I've told her she's not taking all the credit. She is representing the farm that everybody has worked very hard for and she's the one in place now to do that.</p><p>“We really look up to her and admire her for her determination, and her continued support to go through with this farming and 'weather the weather,' if that's the right way to say it.”</p>